What You Need Before You Start

Two free tools answer the whole question, and a surname is enough to start. Neither asks you to create an account, pay a fee, or explain why you are looking.

Before you open either one, gather what you can about the deceased:

• Their surname, or even a fragment of it if you are unsure how it was spelled
• An approximate date of death, which is the quickest way to cut a long result list down
• The suburb they last lived in, if you know it

The first tool is the probate notices search on the NSW Online Registry, which answers a single question: whether anyone has published an intention to apply for a grant. The second is Verify a digital grant, which tells you whether a grant has actually been made.

The two work in sequence rather than as alternatives, so start with the notices.

Step 1: Search the NSW Online Registry Probate Notices

Open the probate notices search on the NSW Online Registry. The form has two columns: deceased details and notice details.

Enter the surname on its own and leave every other field blank. The field matches on a fragment rather than an exact string, so “mith” returns Smith records and “Smith” also returns Hardy-Smith.

Leave the notice date fields alone, because the end date pre-fills with today. If a common surname returns “Your search returned more than 500 results”, narrow it with a date of death range or the suburb, not a given name.

The notice type dropdown offers six options:

• Intended Application for Probate
• Intended Application for Letters of Administration
• Intended Application for Administration with Will Annexed
• Intended Application for Resealing
• Intended Distribution of an Estate
• Filing of Accounts

The first four appear before a grant. Under the Supreme Court Rules 1970 (NSW), Pt 78 r 93, an intended distribution notice goes on the registry only where a grant has been made or resealed, so one there points to a grant.

Your results list the deceased’s name, suburb, date of notice, notice type, date of death and case number. Copy that case number, in the format yyyy/xxxxxxxx, from the final column. Step 2 needs it.

Step 2: Verify Whether a Digital Grant Has Been Issued

Open Verify a digital grant and enter the case number in two parts: the year first and then the eight-digit number. Click Search.

The tool returns one of two results:

• A grant exists: “A digital grant has been issued for the case”, followed by the court, division, list, registry and case number, then the deceased’s name, last suburb, occupation and date of death, then the grant block itself, then the Registrar’s name and the date signed
• No grant is recorded: “No digital grant found for the case number”

The grant block is the part worth reading closely. It names the type of grant made, who it was granted to and the basis of the grant, which tells you who now has legal authority over the estate and why they hold it.

Treat a nil result as not confirmed online rather than not granted. The tool verifies digital grants, and most uncontested applications only moved online from 1 August 2023, so older grants and paper grants will not appear in it.

You now know whether a grant was issued, to whom, on what basis, and the date a Registrar signed it.

Why a Notice Does Not Mean Probate Has Been Granted

A notice tells you an application is coming. It does not tell you one was ever made, and no column in the results table will tell you either.

Under the Probate and Administration Act 1898 (NSW), s 42(2)(b), notice must be published not less than 14 days before the application is made. In practice, the online system publishes the notice automatically when the application is filed, so the notice date you see is effectively the start of the clock rather than a separate earlier event.

Do not read the 14 days as a firm deadline. Section 42(4) allows the Court to direct that a failure to comply with the notice requirements does not bar the grant, so a missing or defective notice is not fatal to an application.

Publishing the notice costs the applicant $59, under the fees effective 1 July 2026. What follows is assessment time, and the Supreme Court of NSW updates its current processing window weekly. As at September 2026, straight probate was being assessed about two weeks after filing, while letters of administration ran roughly ten weeks behind.

More: Why Does Probate Take So Long in NSW?

What to Do If Your Search Returns Nothing

An empty result is the one that unsettles people most, usually because they suspect they are being kept out of something. It has three quite different explanations.

Work through them in this order:

• No application has been filed yet. Notices appear automatically at filing, so nothing published means nothing lodged. Search again in a few weeks, and keep a note of the date of death, because the family provision clock runs from that date
• The estate never needed a grant. There is no statutory requirement to obtain probate in every case, and small estates or jointly held assets often pass without one
• The notice predates the online register. Nothing before 21 January 2013 is searchable there

Before you settle on any of the three, run the search once more on a shorter fragment of the surname. The name published is the name used in the will, with any alias in brackets, and that is not always the name you knew the person by.

If You Find a Notice and Want to Object

Finding a notice can be the worst possible news, particularly where the will looks invalid or the wrong person is applying. The tool for pausing a grant is a caveat.

Under the Supreme Court Rules 1970 (NSW), Pt 78 r 66, a person claiming an interest in an estate may file a caveat against a grant being made. It must state the nature of the interest fully claimed, takes effect when filed, and lapses after six months unless the Court orders otherwise under r 69. Lodging one costs $57 for an individual, under the fees effective 1 July 2026.

A caveat filed without a genuine interest can be removed on application, and the caveator joined as a defendant, so the costs risk is real. Get advice first.

If your concern is provision rather than validity, the Succession Act 2006 (NSW), s 58(1), allows a family provision application whether or not administration has been granted. The 12-month limit in s 58(2) runs from the date of death, not the grant.

More: What Is a Probate Caveat in NSW and When Should You Lodge One?

Searching for Probate Records Before 2013

Probate notices only moved online on 21 January 2013. Before that, they ran in the Sydney Morning Herald and local papers, which is why so many people still search for a probate advertisement rather than a probate notice. Same document, different century.

For anything older, Museums of History NSW holds probate packets from 1817 to 1989, with gaps, catalogued by the date probate was granted rather than the date of death. Access is not unlimited, since birth certificates held inside a packet stay closed for 100 years.

The Supreme Court charges $79 to search each file for a grant made before 1986, under the fees effective 1 July 2026.

How Empower Probate Lawyers Can Help

A search result rarely answers the question underneath it. Knowing that a grant issued on a particular date does not tell you whether the executor is doing their job, whether you have been left out of something, or how long you have left to act. That is the point where a search stops being enough.

We advise executors and applicants on obtaining a grant of probate, and beneficiaries on what probate is and how long probate takes once an application is on foot. Where a notice signals a problem, we act in probate and will disputes across NSW.

Call 1300 481 161 for an initial consultation. Specialist advice. Free initial consultation. Deferred fee arrangements are available in eligible cases.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I check probate status in NSW?

Run two free searches. Search the probate notices on the NSW Online Registry for the case number, then enter it into Verify a digital grant to see whether a grant has been issued.

How do I check if probate has been issued?

Use Verify a digital grant and search the case number. It only covers digital grants, so a nil result on an older or paper application means unconfirmed rather than refused.

Can I see a copy of the will?

Once admitted to probate a will becomes a public document, and anyone may apply to the Supreme Court for a copy on payment of the fee. Separate inspection rights apply beforehand.

What does the case number in the results mean?

It is the Supreme Court file number for the application, formatted yyyy/xxxxxxxx. The year shows when the matter was filed, and the number is what Verify a digital grant searches on.

Is the probate notices search free?

Yes. Both the notices search and Verify a digital grant are free and need no login. Fees apply only to document copies and to searches of older files held by the Court.

Why can I not find a notice for the estate?

Three reasons cover almost every case. No application has been filed yet, the estate never required a grant, or the notice predates 21 January 2013 and was published in a newspaper.

How long after the notice is the grant made?

It varies by application type. The Supreme Court publishes its current processing times weekly, and letters of administration run weeks behind straight probate applications filed at the same time.

Where are probate records from before 2013 held?

Museums of History NSW holds probate packets from 1817 to 1989, with gaps. The Supreme Court holds later files, and charges a per-file search fee for grants made before 1986.